The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 12 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Burlington Northern Underperforms Profit Potential Due to Warren Buffett's Hands-Off Style
“I mean, just looking at the Burlington Northern Railroad, we know a lot about railroads by virtue of our experience at Canadian Pacific. It's the largest You know, it should be the most profitable, highest margin railroad in the world. It's not. And I think a …”
Creel: Bill Ackman offered $200M when asked for $100M in unplanned capex
“I went into the board meeting, and I said, we have an issue. For me to optimize my service, I've got to run west out of Saskatoon, not east, but I need a hundred million dollars to spend on rail and ties and ballasts, and that was not planned for at all, and B…”
Creel: The CP-KCS railroad merger is necessary for the free world
“So, so many things have happened since then that say, you know, not only is this a great merger, this is a necessary combination for the good of, maybe this is a bit ideological, for the good of mankind, for the good of the free world.”
Creel: Precision Scheduled Railroading cut CP's active locomotives by one-third
“At CP, when we implemented Precision Scheduled Railroad back in 2012, 2013 we were running with 1500 locomotives in service a day. Today we're moving more freight With about two-thirds of that, so a thousand to 1100.”
Creel: Asset utilization teams must maintain tension with marketing, not harmony
“So this one particular group, I call them they maintain the tension in an organization. They're not about harmony. They're about doing the right thing. So they have to assess the marketing opportunities, and in turn, they sign off on, we have the capacity, whe…”
Creel: Building infrastructure for peak demand destroys long-term business viability
“He said you can't build a church for Easter Sunday. If you do, you go out of business the other 51 weeks out of the year, because you can't You can't pay to sustain it, so you can over, I guess, over-engineer something spend more money than is necessary, and t…”
Creel: Overselling network capacity destroys customer trust and business models
“If I allow my Aspirations or eagerness to grow revenue to exceed my ability to be able to produce a product. I don't, I not only destroy trust with that particular customer, I destroy my business model.”
Creel: Profit margin is an outcome of asset velocity, not the target
“Because we're turning assets that naturally controls your cost. That produces a good margin. It's an outcome. It's not the focus, and at the same time, it's a great service, because again, it's scheduled.”
Creel: Winter air brake limitations prevent running full-length freight trains
“You just can't run trains as long and as large as you, in the winter time as you can in the summertime because of mechanical limitations. Air going through a train, train line, you just physically can't do it.”
Creel: CP rejected new freight business to protect existing customer commitments
“You know, we just recently went through a contract negotiation with a customer that because their current service provider is not providing them an ability to grow in their markets and satisfy their existing customers' needs, they came to us with a big opportu…”